Why You Do Not Know What and How to Exercise Properly

Are you new into fitness?

Perhaps you have never exercised in your whole life except for running after the bus at the bus stop?

Or maybe you have been training for a while but have not been getting results, ie plateauing?

Well, my friend, i must salute you for wanting to improve yourself.

You do not know what exercises to do or how to design an effective training program because… the media is selling you bodybuilding.

What you know about physical training is bodybuilding, not physical training.

What You See May Not be What You Need

Look around in the newsstands near you. I bet you can find magazines graced by cover models who have six pack abs (for guys).

When you look into their recommended training programs, usually they would include exercises like these:

• Biceps curls (hey, who doesn’t want big arms),
• Crunches, sit ups and the like (hey, who doesn’t want a six pack abs)
• Leg press (squats and deadlifts are dangerous you know)
• Bench press (who doesn’t want a big chest)
• Machine training (pec dec fly, smith machine, preacher curls etc.)

And training programs typically look like this:

• Day 1: Chest and triceps
• Day 2: Shoulder and abs
• Day 3: Back and biceps
• Day 4: Legs

Very familiar isn’t it?

My friend, what they are selling you is bodybuilding, or to be more specific, specialized bodybuilding programs meant for dedicated, perhaps also advanced, bodybuilders.

Let the bodybuilders have the machines.

When what you want or need may not be bodybuilding.

But it sells because you are attracted to that model on the cover.

How you’d wish shops and libraries would stock real physical training books right?

But they are concerned with what sells, not the quality of the content. Who cares if the product is the best in the world? If it doesn’t  sell, it is not good for their business.

Why Bodybuilding is Not Appropriate

Well, unless you want to be a bodybuilder, you should not train like a bodybuilder. Common sense.

Just like you wouldn’t train like a marathon runner if you are a swimmer.

Are you a bodybuilder? If you are you won’t be reading this.

Yes, i know you want bigger arms, bigger chest, bigger legs, six pack abs. But the truth is physical training is not equal to bodybuilding, bodybuilding as presented by the media.

What Real Body-Building is

As the name suggests, bodybuilding is building up your body. Whether it is to get stronger, get bigger, get faster is not the point. The point is you want to make your body better tomorrow than it is today.

Back in the days, bodybuilders were strong men who lifted heavy. They were big as well as strong. They trained more like weightlifters and powerlifters than modern bodybuilders.

In fact many bodybuilders were weightlifters and vice versa.

A scene from Muscle Beach in the golden era of bodybuilding.

In addition, they used a variety of training equipment to get strong, like kettlebells, leverage clubs, gymnastics style bodyweight training amongst other things.

Truth be told, to be big and strong, you do not need to do many of the isolation exercises modern bodybuilders do. In fact, you do not need to do more than three exercises in your training program at any one time. You can even survive on just one exercise if you know what to do.

Full body exercises, which utilize as many muscles as possible, are the name of the game when it comes to strength and size training.

Real bodybuilders who have any proper credentials under their belt also know that basic full body exercises are what you need for tough-as-nails strength and gorilla muscles. Isolations are the icing on the cake to bring up lagging bodyparts.

Real bodybuilders also know that full body exercises are the toughest to do.

And i bet you that if you have tried full body exercises versus isolation exercise, you also would know the difference between the two. And be tempted to use machines and isolation exercises to make things easier for you.

Why You Need to Make Training Harder, Not Easier

As mentioned above, the exercises that are the most beneficial are the hardest, full body exercises.

You need to make training harder so that the body adapts to the increasing demand on it. Face it guys, if you don’t push yourself into discomfort, you would never progress.

That’s why people who are serious into physical training are called “hardcore”, even though it is a given.

If you are not training “hardcore” you might as well don’t train as you are wasting your time and would get nowhere.

What Exactly is Proper Training

I am just going to present to you three aspects of a proper training program.

1) The Injury Prevention Portion (Prehab)

This would include the warm up and other specific injury prevention exercises if appropriate.

Most programs are severely lacking in this. Doing stretching or cardio for warm up may not be appropriate and may be counterproductive.

Specialized training is needed by fitness professionals to be qualified to design proper warm ups.

2) The Training Proper

This you already know so i shall not say too much on it. Whether people are training properly or not is another story.

But this is what most people are already doing.

3) The Recovery Portion (Rehab)

This includes the cool down and other specific exercises to prevent overuse injuries caused by doing too much training.

Most programs are also severely lacking in this. Recovery is very essential to your training longevity. And rest is not recovery. Recovery means doing somethings to speed up recovery, not waiting for the natural recovery rate to occur.

Just like the warm up, you need specialized training to be qualified to design proper recovery programs.

Other Important Yet Often Overlooked Things to Consider in a Proper Training Program

Progression

Let’s say you started with zero pull ups. Then trained to be able to do 10 (great job). Then 20. After that what? 50? 100?

There is a limit to how much you can do of certain things before you come to a point of diminishing returns.

So not only the loading of the exercises have to progress, there must be a progression of the exercises. From easy to difficult. So that you don’t just do more and more, you become better by doing better.

Periodization

If you are like me, there are so many variables to consider when designing training programs that i was easily overwhelmed and had more questions than when i started.

And deciphering what is working and what is not working can at times be puzzling.

There are many more factors to consider but i won’t touch on them here. Suffice it to say that if you are trying to design your own program as an amateur, you would probably make a lot of mistakes. I did.

Therefore you need a trainer to guide you to avoid those mistakes, which can be costly at times, like injuries.

Wouldn’t you want to learn exactly what to do, why to do what, how to do what, when to do what, and know how to evaluate what is working and what is not working at the snap of your fingers?

Learn Proper Physical Training Through the Circular Strength Training® System

When you sign up for personal training from me, you would learn:

• How to integrate Breathing, Movement and Structure to involve the core in all exercises for more strength, power and safety.

• How to squat properly, decrease stress on the knees and keep them injury free.

• How to lift heavy objects properly and protect your back from injury.

• How to use the 7 Key Components of Structure to determine the perfect technique in all exercises.

• How to use the Intu-Flow® joint mobility system for warm up and to prevent injuries.

• How to use Prasara Yoga to recover from your training load and prevent overuse injuries.

• How to use movement Sophistication to increase or decrease exercise difficulty for all skill levels.

• How to use the 4×7 Periodization model to design training cycles like a pro.

• How to use the 4×7 Intensity Wave to determine the perfect training load for any day.

• How to use the Intuitive Training Protocol to determine your perfect training intensity for any day.

• How to use the Intuitive Training Protocol to determine the perfect time for progression.

• How to use kettlebells, Clubbells® and other equipment in the safest and most beneficial way.

The Great Gama, a picture of strength.

“Herman’s… classes are the one and only kind in Singapore. If you …think you can master the moves by watching videos, you cannot be more wrong and may even injure yourself in the long run because of poor technique. Getting real-life coaching from Herman will ensure that your technique is sound and you can learn from the guru himself. It is also great to interact and make friends with like-minded people in the class!”

Lai

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About Me

I have been a personal trainer since 2003. I graduated with a Diploma in Physiotherapy from Nanyang Polytechnic, Singapore. I have extensive background in highly technical sports and activities like artistic gymnastics, martial arts and kettlebell lifting. Not content with being average, i am always researching and experimenting with the most effective and efficient ways of physical training, drawing from programs created by the best fitness coaches in the world.

Here is a list of some of the tools i use in my practice:

Assessment Prehab (injury prevention) Rehab (recovery from training and/or injury)

Strength and conditioning (training)

Postural assessment and correction Breathing assessment and correction Functional movement assessment and correction Neurodynamic tests and mobilization Neural tension tests and mobilization Core stability assessment and training Joint mobility assessment and practice Joint mobilization Yoga movements and poses Trigger point release Myofascial release Deep tissue massage Sports massage Foam rolling Muscle activation Balance assessment and training

Bodyweight training Calisthenics Functional training Suspension training Rings training Gymnastics training Weight training Kettlebell lifting Clubbell swinging Medicine ball training Swiss ball training Sandbag training Barbell training Dumbbell training Cardiovascular endurance training High intensity interval training Muscular endurance training Strength training Explosive strength training Plyometric training Reactive training Agility training IPPT training

My other credentials include:

Certified Kettlebell Trainer (http://www.ikff.net/) (01 July 2009)

Circular Strength Training Instructor (http://www.rmaxinternational.com) (18 Oct 2008 – 17 Oct 2010)

Russian Kettlebell Challenge Instructor (http://www.dragondoor.com/) (25 Jun 2006)

Corrective Exercise and Rehab Specialist (Optimum Performance Training System) (2007)

Strength & Conditioning Specialist (Optimum Performance Training System) (Mar 2008)

My former clients include:

Kandang Kerbau Hospital

Social Development Network

Hungry Caterpillar Preschool Centre

Krav Maga Singapore

Crossfit Singapore

Fight Works Asia

The American Club

Northland Secondary School

Lycee Francais De Singapour

Chatsworth International School

Anglo Chinese School (Barker Road)

Bishan Sports Hall

Toa Payoh East Community Centre

East Coast Primary School

Saint Anthony’s Canossian Primary School

Boon Lay Garden Primary School

Lian Hua Primary School

Yio Chu Kang Primary School

Peiying Primary School

Maha Bodhi Primary School

Clubbell®, Intu-Flow®, Circular Strength Training®, FlowFighting®, Ageless Mobility®, FlowFit®, RMAX® – are registered trademarks of RMAX.tv Productions.

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